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( V L E N 1 ) A R 



H CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL. J 

I 




A LAYMAX OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. 






FROM THE ATRTL NUMBER OF THE MERCERSBT T RC« REVIEW. 



CHAMBER SB URG, PA : 

PRINTED BY M. KIEFPER & CO 

1858. 



THE 



CALENDAR, 



CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL 



A LAYMAN OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. 



FROM THE APRIL NUMBER OF THE MERCERSBURG REVIEW. 



CHAMBERSBTJRG, PA: 

PRINTED BY M. KIEFFER & CO 

1858. 



fl 



<A* 



&,Q,Steiuor 
16Ja'04 



Among the strange fahles which compose the structure of 
Grecian Mythology, we find one that refers to the god 
Chronos, who presided over time ; an old man weighed 
down with years and accumulated infirmities, whose long, 
grey locks are moved by the passing wind, gently or rapid- 
ly as this may come in the form of the light zephyr, or the 
rude and stormy blast of old Boreas. In his right hand he 
holds the relentless scythe, with which all are cut down at 
the appointed time, — all, whether rich or poor, old or 
young ; those whose years have been filled with good works 
and bright deeds, or those whose manly breasts are but 
prepared for noble encounters. The serpent biting its tail, 
appears by his side, the ancient emblem of time, or rather 
of the year. In his left hand a child is held, as if to be de- 
voured by the god; for since he " brings an end to all things 
which have had a beginning, he may be said to devour his 
own offspring." A similar representation is given in Eo- 
man Mythology of the god Saturn, who was the father of 
the Olympian Jove, and one of the descendants of primeval 
Chaos. These representations satisfy us, that man does 
not require any higher illumination, than that which flows 
from the dim lamp of Mature, to make him conscious of 
the passage of time, or, that this is marked by the destruc- 
tion of bright and shining members of his own race, — the 
darling children of an hour, petted and nursed by the del- 
icate care of time and then subjected to the destroyer's 
power. The Eoman poet in his Ode to Postumus, recog- 
nizes this peculiarity with much pathos, when he exclaims,* 

* Ehett fugaces, Postume, Postume, 
Labuntur anni : nee pietas moram 
Rugis et instanti senectae 

Afferet indomitaeque morti. 
-X- -* * * -K- # 

Linquencla tellus, et domus, et placens 
Uxor : neq-ue harum quas colis arborum, 
Te, praeter invisas cupressos, 
Ulla breyem doniinuni sequeter. 

Hor. Carm. Lib. II, XIV. 



" How swiftly glide our flying years t 
Alas! nor piety, nor tears 

Can stop the fleeting day ; 
Deep-furrowed wrinkles, posting age, 
And death's unconquerable rage, 

Are strangers to delay. 

* # * # # * 

Your pleasing consort must be left 
And you of villas, lands bereft, 

Must to the shades descend ; 
The cypress only, hated tree, 
Of all thy much-loved groves shall thee — 

Its short-lived lord — attend !" 

But the flight of time, when viewed, under the advantages 
of a brighter light than that which illuminated the path of 
Horace, becomes a" subject of the greatest importance to 
the Christian mind. It is not only the loss of time that it 
regrets, the nearing of the dark and gloomy tomb, the dis- 
mal boughs of the cypress or the funereal trappings which 
adorn the hearse on its saddest errand. These are all re- 
pulsive to the light and joyous heart, but they may be sur- 
rounded with such a halo of glory, that man " shall go to 
his long resting place without a tear." It is not the un- 
known Future that appalls. It is the misspent Past that 
makes him cling to life with the fond hope that some good 
deed may blot out the record of past omissions and com- 
missions, and may make him worthier of a blessed reward 
in the Future. This is the Christian's cause of regret, and, 
notwithstanding it is based upon purer and higher and no- 
bler reasons than that of the pampered child of luxury, yet 
he must finally admit that of himself he can do nothing 
which will repair the misdeeds of the Past, but must rely 
on a higher power for assistance to labor aright during life. 
His agonizing soul exclaims in the words of the Christian 
Spanish poet : 

" world ! so few the years we live, 

Would that the life which thou dost give 

Were life indeed ! 

Alas ! thy sorrows fall so fast, 

Our happiest hour is when at last 

The soul is freed." 



These considerations point out one class of events as 
marking periods in the great Calendar of Time, — the deaths 
of those who have lived and struggled in the world. 
Wherever death comes to a human being it impresses an 
indelible mark upon the breast of some one who has learn- 
ed to honor or to love the deceased. The event is the cen- 
tral point around which will revolve the memories of the 
Past with such a centripetal attraction that all the alluring 
charms of the Present will not succeed in destroying the 
relation. Who has not some such periods, marked with 
indelible impressions and draped with sombre black, in 
the Calendar of his own life ? To these, he refers all the 
incidents of that life, — speaks of events that occurred so 
long "before he or she died," and thus binds them to his 
memory by friendly cords, even though these be entwined 
with cypress. We say that every human being has such 
periods in the arrangement of his private Calendar. 

The patriot, on the bed of death, has a nation watching, 
with breathless anxiety, every little symptom of his disease; 
hope contends with despair; glad expectation with sorrow; 
but the moment arrives and all is over. A nation weeps 
and mournful dirges are borne along by the winds as they 
sweep over the plain. A great leader has fallen and who 
shall take his place ? Again, the Christian father or moth- 
er is sinking under the exhausting effects of disease, and 
the keenest anguish fills the breasts of their children. The 
family circle is to be broken ; — the central jewel, around 
which the less brilliant gems had been clustered, is to be 
destroyed ; — that which had been the source of happiness 
is to be removed. When death comes, know you not the 
deep mark he will make in the record of each one's life, 
by the sorrow that he throws so overwhelmingly over the 
dazzling day-dreams of a happy future ? And there lives 
no man so wretched or miserable, so wicked and lawless, 
but the event of his death will form a mark in the Calen- 
dar of Time precious to some heart who, it may be, loved 
not wisely but too well. 

But if sad marks are thus made on the Calendar, bright, 



6 

happy ones appear also. The birth of a child constitutes 
a bright epoch, which proud parents and loving relatives 
refer to with great satisfaction ; and thus that Calendar, 
which marks the progress of Time for each individual, has 
periods both of sorrow and joy, of deep anguish and high 
exultation. 

On the present occasion, however, we wish to direct at- 
tention to those divisions of the Calendar, that the necessi- 
ties of civil life have formed, with the assistance of Astro- 
nomical Science, and also those periods, with the laws for 
their determination, which religion has set apart for holy 
services. "We trust the subject may not seem too common- 
place for close and careful examination. It often happens, 
that a common subject may be very little understood, be- 
cause our attention has never been directed to it. The 
explanation of the Almanac, says the eminent Astronomer, 
Arago, involves the most delicate and intricate points of 
science and general learning. Let us then endeavor to 
seize the main facts connected with its formation, and thus 
be enabled to understand the divisions of time, by which 
events in the civil history of man are recollected and accu- 
rately fixed. The words Almanac and Calendar are used 
indifferently in English to represent collections of tables, 
containing subdivisions of time considered with reference 
to artificial or natural relations. The first is derived from 
an Arabic word, signifying the moon ; and its derivation 
shows us, that the moon gave the peculiar laws by which 
the division^ of time were determined among the Eastern 
nations. Calendar is derived from the Latin word calendae, 
which were the first days of each month in the year. 
Whatever may have been the other subdivisions of time 
adopted by mankind, that into days and years was fixed, 
by the movements of the^earth in the heavens, beyond all 
danger of conventional alterations. 

By a day, we mean, ordinarily, the time occupied by the 
Sun in an apparent revolution through the firmament; in 
fact it is the amount of time consumed by the earth in 
making one entire revolution on its axis. This period is 



divided into two portions, one during which a part of the 
earth receives its light directly from the Sun's rays, and a 
second when the only light, sent down, is from the moon 
or the stars. The former is known also as clay and the 
latter as night. This division has existed from the first 
dawn of creation, when Omnipotent Power spake the word 
and " divided the light from darkness," calling the light 
Day, and the darkness Mght. The relation of length, how- 
ever, between these two periods is not fixed for any particular 
spot on the earth's surface, and between any two positions 
there will always be great difference. At the north pole a 
continuous clay of six months duration is followed by dark- 
ness of an equal length of time, and those wdio are famil- 
iar with the travels of our modern Arctic discoverers, will 
recollect the descriptions of those long periods of light and 
darkness, and how they affect the minds of men who have 
been accustomed to the night and day of temperate or even 
tropic latitudes. 

The day, in the proper sense of the word, is controlled, 
as w 7 e have said, by the revolution of the earth on its axis, 
and has been divided from a very early period of history, 
into twenty-four parts. Sometimes these were divided into 
two periods, — one, that of the light, which had its twelve 
equal divisions, and that of darkness, which was consider- 
ed as composed also of twelve equal parts. With such an 
arrangement, the hours of the night, during winter, would 
be longer than those of the day, while during the months 
of summer, an opposite relation would be established be- 
tween the two, and no equality of hours could exist on any 
other days of the year than the 21st of March and the 23rd 
of September, when the periods of day and night are equal. 
The more common division of the day, however, is into 
equal portions, each of which consists of twelve hours. 

Among some nations, as is the custom now of Astrono- 
mers, the day was not divided into two periods, but the 
hours were reckoned from one up to twenty-four. Astron- 
omers follow T the custom of Ptolemy, and consider noon 
as the commencement of the astronomical day, which 



8 

of course then extends to noon of the next day. The be- 
ginning of such a day is twelve hours after that of the civil 
day, which takes place at midnight, and its termination is 
also twelve hours later than the civil day. Almost all 
modern nations regulate their civil day from midnight, and 
they employ two initial points for designating time, the 
beginning of the day and the middle, or noon, when the 
sun is on tjie meridian ; but the relative position of any 
hour is regulated by its relation to the middle point, being 
called either the hour of the morning or the evening, as 
it is before or after mid-day, and the fact is indicated, in 
writing, by the abbreviations A. M., or P. M. 

The Jews, as the pages of both Old and E"ew Testament 
clearly show, the Chinese, the Italians and the ancient Athe- 
nians began their day at the setting of the sun. One can well 
understand how a simple people, devoted to agricultural 
pursuits, not given to the studv and cultivation of science, 
would naturally select as the commencement of their civil 
day, either the rising or 7 setting of that bright orb, whose 
beams were to give light to their path and to infuse ge- 
nial warmth throughout the animal and vegetable king- 
doms. These two events in the history of the day were 
regarded as the great facts of the natural [world, to which 
both the activity and living energy of all that possessed 
life were due, since the rising of the sun was the great 
stimulus to action and, when aweary of continual exertion, 
the darkness, its setting produced, allowed of rest and re- 
freshing repose to the animal world. There is thus a reason 
arising from man's relations to nature for the adoption of 
this notation. It also explains the reason for the form of 
expression which Moses employs to denote the first days 
of Creation, — " the evening and the morning were the first 
day." A writer of the present day would say, " the morn- 
ing and the evening," instead of employing the old form 
which sprang from the mode of reckoning time in use with 
the Jews* 

The Italians, according to Arago,* have continued this 

* Astronomie Populaire, I, 268. 



9 

defective method down to the present time, counting the 
hours regularly from one to twenty-four, and giving as 
their reason for it, that travellers are kept in this way al- 
ways reminded of how many hours they may employ be- 
fore darkness shall surround them. The sun always sets 
at 24 o'clock, according to this calculation, and if the watch 
points 22 o'clock, we know that two hours will yet inter- 
vene before the close of day. But the advantages of any 
such system are really nothing as compared with the incon- 
venience attendant upon constant daily alteration of time 
pieces, and the impossibility of establishing any thing like 
a methodical arrangement of daily business. The argu- 
ments in favor of its retention must be based on blind love 
of antiquity, and not on any advantages that are inherent 
to it. 

The same objections obtain, when we examine the meth- 
od of the Babylonians, Syrians, Persians and Modern 
Greeks, who take the rising of the sun as the initial point 
of the day. This period, as well as the setting of the sun, 
differs daily, and hence no clock regulated by either of 
these events on one day would be strictly correct the sub- 
sequent day. These methods spring from an age when 
science was not known, but wherever it sheds its benig- 
nant rays in the present day, we find that they are abolish- 
ed, unless deep-rooted affection or irrational prejudice 
should combine to prevent such an effect. 

Whatever period may be adopted for the commencement 
of the civil day, it must be determined by the aid of the 
heavenly bodies, and thus, by a bond of necessary union 
we are bound to the planets and stars that shine in the im- 
mensity of space, — bound by such a harmonious relation 
that all our daily duties are regulated by them, while their 
inhabitants are in similar manner indebted to our planet 
and its kindred, for the arrangement and control of their 
daily avocations. And though our most ingeniously con- 
trived and artistically finished Chronometers may render 
our divisions of the time, which intervenes between the 
fixed periods given by astronomical observations, some- 



10 

what accurate and reliable, yet we are obliged continually 
to alter them by the great regulators which the Eternal has 
established in the skies. As our own American orator* so 
beautifully expressed the idea in his oration on Astrono- 
my — " for all the kindreds and tribes and tongues of men, 
— each upon their own meridian — the eternal sun strikes 
twelve at noon, and the glorious constellations, far up in 
the everlasting belfries of the skies, chime twelve at mid- 
night ; twelve for the pale student over his flickering lamp, 
twelve amid the flaming wonders of Orion's belt, if he 
crosses the meridian at that fated hour ; — twelve by the 
weary couch of languishing humanity; — twelve in the star- 
paved courts of the Empyrean; — twelve for the heaving 
tides of the ocean ; twelve for the weary arm of labor ; 
twelve for the toiling brain ; twelve for the watching, wa- 
king, broken heart ; twelve for the meteor which blazes 
for a moment and expires ; twelve for the comet whose 
period is measured by centuries ; twelve for every substan- 
tial, for every imaginary thing, which exists in the sense, 
the intellect, or the fancy, and which the speech or 
thought of man, at the given meridian, refers to the lapse 
of time." 

Astronomers take into consideration two kinds of clays, 
the sidereal, which marks the interval of time between two 
successive passages of any star over the meridian, and the 
solar, which we have just considered, the interval between 
" two consecutive passages of the Sun through the meri- 
dian." The latter is the longer of the two, and constitutes 
that which we have called the civil day. But while this 
period of twenty-four hours is being determined by the 
revolution of the Earth upon its axis, — or the apparent rev- 
olution of the Sun about the Earth, the latter is under- 
going itself a change of position in space which alters, with 
each instant of time, its relation to the Sun. The Earth 
revolves around the Sun, and this revolution requires a 
much longer time than that required for the revolution on 
its axis, giving the appearance of a constant change of 

* Everett's Discourse on the Uses of Astronomy, 



11 

position in the sun, and occupying an amount of time 
which is called a year. The year then means the number 
of days that are required by the sun in its apparent move- 
ments, before it returns to the same position on the ecliptic, 
whether this position be at the summer or winter solstices, 
the autumnal or spring equinoxes. It is not composed 
of an even number of solar days, but consists of three hun- 
dred and sixty-five days and a fraction under six hours, 
The difficulties which this fraction has created for astrono- 
mers and chronologists in past history, as well as the plans 
proposed to avoid further trouble about it, will be consid- 
ered directly. 

The year is divided into Seasons, which divisions, al- 
though not employed as legal, yet are in use with all man- 
kind. These are also determined by the relation of the 
Earth to the Sun, so that the Record in the first chapter of 
Genesis concerning the fourth day of Creation, can be lit- 
erally interpreted, and the lights which were then estab- 
lished in the firmament have been not only "for signs," but 
also "for seasons^ and for days, and years." These seasons 
are determined by the sun's apparent position on a great 
circle called the ecliptic, which circle is inclined at an angle 
of 23°, 27', 30" to the plane of the Equator. The sun in 
making its apparent circuit on the ecliptic will twice in the 
year cross the Equator, once in passing from south to north, 
and the second time on its return ; these constitute the 
Equinoxes. The period of time which marks its extreme 
northern or southern position is called the Solstice. The 
Equinoxes take place on the 21st of March and the 23rd 
of September, and are known as spring and autumnal. 

The solstices happen on the 21st of June and the 21st of 
December and are called summer and winter solstices ; — 
these are the periods when in our latitudes we should be 
suffering most from intense heat or cold, but a number of 
modifying causes generally delays the periods of greatest 
heat and cold for some days beyond the Solstices. In Par- 
is the fifteenth of July is about the period of maximum 
heat, and the fourteenth of January that of maximum cold. 



12 

The four seasons are thus determined by the Solstices and 
Equinoxes, from the 21st of March to June 21st, we have 
the season of Spring, from 21st of June to September 23rd, 
Summer, from the latter to 21st December, Autumn, and 
from that period to March 21st, Winter. These are the 
seasons, as the movements of the sun determine them for 
the northern hemisphere. They are the very opposite in 
the southern portion of our globe, the spring of the north 
corresponding to the autumn of the south, and the summer 
of the south to the winter of the north. 

But we are admonished by the want of space, not to 
linger over this part of our subject. It would be profitable 
to examine more closely the nature of the effects which the 
Sun produces during the four seasons of the year, — to see 
how the scenes of nature are changed as though by magic 
power,- — to watch the gradual disappearance of snow and 
ice at the termination of winter, — the gentle metamorpho- 
sis of rough and craggy ice-bergs into streams that glide 
down the hillside and make glad the verdure of the plain, 
— to pluck the floral beauties which cover the meadow, — 
to view, with thankful heart to the All-wise and Omnipo- 
tent God, the fields with, their rich return for honest labor 
as the evening winds may blow across the summits of the 
waving grain, — or to join in the exultant shout of thank- 
fulness that the devout heart pours forth in the song of 
Harvest-home. The seasons are so many periods for at- 
tracting man's attention to the wonders of Creation and 
the greatness of the Creator, that they form an unending 
theme for the philosopher and the poet. The harmony that 
exists throughout all portions of creation is here shown in 
its most wonderful form. Nothing is discordant. The 
Master's hand has combined all in the wondrous notes 
which are poured forth, by his creation, as tribute to the 
Creator's power. The seasons follow as regular develop- 
ments of each other. 

The childhood of Spring, bright and gleesome, is but the 
bud which will develop into the glorious maturity of Sum- 
mer, destined also in time to become the matronly autumn, 



13 

and to totter, in the decrepitude and cheerlessness of old 
age, as chilling winter to the tomb. But the end is not 
yet, — no ! the regulations of Omnipotence have assigned 
to the seasons the duty of continually rehearsing their parts 
so long as the earth is subject to the laws of time, and thus 
while the earth is bearing fruit to man, is supplying his 
wants and providing for his comforts, it is ever preaching 
to him that all things are bound to decay, and that the end 
of natural life is inevitable death. 

We have now to consider as the next division of time, 
one which, though enforced by civil authority, yet has its 
origin not in national causes, but in the religious feelings 
of man. The week indicates " a regular succession of days 
of labor and rest.'* It is a division of time not found among 
all nations, but has existed from the earliest periods among 
the Chinese, Jews, Egyptians, Chaldeans and Arabians. 
We shall see on examining the etymology of the English, 
names of the days of the week, as well as those employed 
to designate the latter by the French, that they are associ- 
ated in some very intimate way with the names of the Gre- 
cian and Roman deities, or with those of the Northmen ; — 
the English being derived from Saxon and the French from 
the Classic mythology. Sunday is the day of the Sun ; 
Monday that of the Moon ; Tuesday that of Tuisco, a deity 
corresponding to Mars ; Wednesday that of Woden or Odin 
— the Alfadur or All-father, who regulated the seasons by 
the creation of the sun and moon, and along with Yili and 
Ve — the other two gods, who were formed in the begin- 
ning, — created man, Odin granting him life and soul, Vili 
reason and motion, and Ye the senses and speech; Thurs- 
day is the day of Thor — the god of thunder ; Friday that of 
Frigga the wife of Odin ; and Saturday the day of Saturn. 
We observe then of the seven days that their names are 
the same with those of the seven planets known to the an- 
cients, viz : the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, 
Yenus and Saturn. The etymology of the names justifies 
the conclusion that they were given for astronomical 
reasons, and thus the week contains " traces of some an- 



14 

dent astronomical system," which is not clearly understood 
at the present day. Various explanations have been given 
of the peculiar nature of this ancient astronomy, but none 
seem satisfactory. Arago advances the idea also that spe- 
cial virtues were attributed to the number seven by the 
ancients, and that " no one would have dared in Egypt, 
Greece or Rome to announce the existence of more than 
seven planets, as it would have been an infringement on 
the prerogatives of the number seven which would have 
entitled him to the maledictions of religion, and the pun- 
ishment would have been death." The first day of the week 
is necessarily to be determined by ancient observances. 
The Jews, who give us the fullest records of the early es- 
tablishment of the division of time, celebrated, in accord- 
ance with the fourth commandment delivered to Moses on 
Mount Sinai, that day as peculiarly sacred on which God 
"rested," after the works of creation had been accomplish- 
ed, and especially blessed and sanctified. This is called 
the seventh day in the second chapter of Genesis, and the 
Sabbath day in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, and is 
still celebrated by the Jews, as it has always been, on Sat- 
urday. From this we observe the right that Sunday has to 
be called the first day of the week. 

The division of the week has never been rejected by any 
nation that has once adopted it, with a single exception — 
that of France. In 1793, when the misnamed Republican 
party held the power over that fair land, Infidelity had 
become so widely diffused that the traces even of religious 
customs could not be retained. A general destruction, of 
all that savored of an acknowledgment of religion or its 
rites, was effected amid bacchanalian orgies and satanic rev- 
elry. The week with its one day, nominally at least, de- 
voted to the service of the great Ruler of the earth, could 
not be permitted to remain. The very name of that day — 
Dimanche — a corruption of dies Dominica, the Lord's Day, 
would be a continual rebuke to the vice and crime of the 
government. Hence, the week must be abolished, and in 
its stead a period of ten days, called a decade, established. 



15 

For a period of thirteen years this arrangement was carried 
out, and the outrage upon the express command of the 
great Jehovah perpetrated by a government steeped in the 
filthiest vices and the grossest profanation of religion and 
its laws. But "man proposes and God disposes," — the 
decade of the godless man of science — of the blaspheming 
infidel, has been rejected from the records of history ; and 
the week with its regular days devoted to labor and toil, 
and its one day consecrated to the service of God, has 
again been restored, even in France, as a regular division 
of time. 

The week was due to religious authority ; by this it was 
established, and hence the necessity of its preservation, and 
its importance, as a division of time, is as great as though 
it had been regularly derived from astronomical laws. 
Days and years are produced by the phenomena which 
these laws exhibit, — they follow each other with unfaltering 
regularity, and form an unbroken series extending from 
the primal creative fiat — let there be light — down to our own 
time. Each one has first existed as a possibility in the 
future, then as an actuality in the present, abounding in 
its human sorrows and human joys, and finally has been 
reckoned among the things of the past — adding one to the 
number of the spectral column whose grim ranks consti- 
tute the skeleton of history. The week, however, has 
been appointed by God himself, not as the effect of any 
preordained laws, or as a consequence of their operations, 
but by special and direct command. Hence, it claims our 
special veneration, — our due acknowledgment. Violate 
we may the great law of nature that " day is the time for 
work," and night that of rest, and the consequences will 
merely bean exhaustion of vital energies, and a complete un- 
dermining of the constitution. We may disrespect the year, 
with its sequence of seasons, may sow the grain in summer, 
or in the midst of winter, may clothe ourselves in the thin ap- 
parel of July and endeavor to breast the storms of Decem- 
ber, and the consequences will only be bodily want and 
suffering. But if we violate the week, a higher punish- 



16 

♦ 

ment awaits us. "We have violated that which was solemn- 
ly established amid the most impressive manifestations of 
Omnipotent power, and have boldly claimed the right to 
use that which He declared was "the Sabbath of the Lord 
thy God." The punishment for this is greater and more 
enduring than that for the violation of the clay and the 
year. In the latter case, the consequences are confined to 
time, — in the former, they extend through the boundless 
limits of eternity — the immense ocean in which time floats 
like a small bubble of foam, sparkling for a while in the 
colors that its own walls have produced by the decompo- 
sition of the pure light that has visited them from the Eter- 
nal Sun, and then swallowed up in the great waves without 
a trace left behind. 

Months were doubtless first adopted as a matter of con- 
venience. The memory would find it very inconvenient 
to recollect particular circumstances, if the three divisions 
we have thus far considered, were the only means of ex- 
pressing intervals of time. It was desirable that the weeks 
should be grouped together and a name be given to such 
groups. In addition to this, however, we have some reason 
to believe that they were originally constructed in accord- 
ance with the movements of the moon, and that the period 
of time required for its changes constituted a month. This 
idea is sustained by the etymology of our word month, • 
which is derived from the Saxon monath, and it from mona, 
the moon. In like manner the words employed in other 
languages for month are derived from the word used to indi- 
cate the moon. The time required for a complete revolution 
of the moon from one point in the heavens to the same 
point again, or that consumed between any two full moons, 
or new moons, constitutes a lunar month. This forms a 
period of about twenty -nine and a half clays. In common 
parlance four weeks are considered as making a lunar 
month, so that the year, if this were true, would consist of 
thirteen lunar months. 

The revolution of the moon soon ceased to regulate the 
months of the year. A division into lunar months might 



17 

have been found inconvenient, and it certainly must have 
been as unmanageable as the Italian method of reckoning 
time from sunset. Had the moon performed its revolution 
in an even number of days, there would have been no diffi- 
culty about it, but as there was a fractional portion of a 
day in the time employed, the lunar period was unsuited 
for civil purposes. 

The Egyptians adopted a plan for dividing the year, 
which was evidently based upon the idea involved in the 
lunar periods. The month consisted of thirty days. Twelve 
months formed the year, but there was always added five 
complementary days to the last month, before the reckoning 
began with the E"ew Year. This would give three hun- 
dred and sixty-five clays to the j^ear. The Egyptians called 
the months Thoth, Paophi, Athyr, Choeac, Tybi, Mechir, 
Phamenoth, Pharcnouti, Pachon, Payni, Epiphi, Mesori. 
The complementary days are called Nisi, for the common 
year, and Kebus for the intercalary by the modern Cophts. 
A system, very similar to this Egyptian system, was intro- 
duced into the French Eepublican Calendar of 1793, — that 
is the division of the year into twelve months of thirty 
days, with &Ye or six complementary days, which w^ere 
called, in consequence of their Eevolutionary origin, sans- 
cullotides. 

The Greeks divided the year into twelve months, which 
were alternately of thirty and twenty-nine days, and the 
deficiency was made up by an intercalary month. Their 
months were divided into three decades, and the days 
these contained were numbered from one up to ten. The 
months always began with the end of one moon and the 
beginning of the other. There was, however, no general 
system adopted throughout Greece, and different States 
employed months of different length. 

To the Koman system of dividing the year our attention 
is particularly invited, since the names of our months have 
mostly been derived from theirs. The Eoman Calendar 
first consisted often months, and the year began with what 
is our third month. This was called Mars, after the god of 

2 



18 

war, from whom Romulus was asserted to have descended 
The second month received the name of April from the 
verb aperire, to open or unfold, as the earth was then un- 
locked from the severity of winter, and, softened by the 
warming rays of the sun and melting showers, the buds 
began to appear and prepare the way for vernal flowers. 
The third was dedicated to Maia, the daughter of Atlas 
and Pleione, who was the mother of Mercury, and eventu- 
ally-one of the stars constituting the constellation known 
as the Pleiades. The fourth was consecrated to Juno — the 
wife of Jupiter and the Queen of Heaven. The remaining 
six months of the Roman year, as established by Romulus, 
received their names from their numerical position, and 
were called Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, Novem- 
ber, and December. The additional months added by Nu- 
ma, were called January, from Janus, who presided over 
the gates of heaven, and hence this month was then em- 
ployed as the commencement of the year, and February 
from the word februa, signifying sacrifices for the spirits of 
the dead, which were offered during this month. We have 
preserved all these names, excepting Quintilis and Sextilis. 
As Julius Csesar was born in the month Quintilis, its name 
was changed to that of July, and the name of August was 
given to the month Sextilis, in honor of Octavius Augus- 
tus, who became a consul during that month. 

The Roman months were divided into three unequal pe- 
riods, the first days of which were known as Calends, Nones 
and Ides. The Calends occurred on the first day of the 
month, the Nones on the 5th or 7th, and the Ides on the 
13th or 15th. The days between these dates were charac- 
terized by their distance from the next festival, so that the 
days of the month after the Ides, would be called so many 
days before the Calends of the next month, those after the 
Calends so many days before the Nones, and those after 
the Nones so many before the Ides. The whole year con- 
sisted of but three hundred and fifty-five clays, and in order 
to make the correction necessary on account of the made- 



19 

quacy of this number of clays to complete the period con- 
sumed in the revolution of the earth around the sun, an 
intercalary or supplementary month was added every two 
years.* This was called Mercedonius, and was inserted be- 
tween the 23rd and 24th of February. This addition was 
made in order that the civil and the astronomical year 
might commence on the same day, at least every other year. 
The month Mercedonius some years was longer than oth- 
ers, in order to bring about this agreement, and the deter- 
mination of its length was left to the High-priests. This 
power gave rise to great corruption, as it rendered its pos- 
sessors able to shorten the period of office for their enemies 
and lengthen it for their friends. Confusion of the most 
annoying character invaded the chronologic reckoning of 
the Eomans, until we are told that the autumnal festivals 
were celebrated in the spring and those of summer in the 
middle of winter. 

This state of affairs attracted the attention of Julius Cae- 
sar, and the result was the Julian reformation of the Calen- 
dar. It was accomplished with the aid of the Egyptian 
astronomer Sosigenes. The first object was to have an 
intercalation for the deficiency of the civil when compared 
with the astronomical year, which should be regular and 
free from alteration, and the next was to compensate for 
the fractional portion of the day which was appended to the 
three hundred and sixty-five clays in order to make up the 
astronomical year. This latter object was accomplished 
by giving the civil year a definite number of days, omitting 
the fraction, and adding one day every four years to the 
number contained in the year in order to make up for the 
omission. The ordinary year would contain three hundred 
and sixty-five days, while every fourth year would have 
three hundred and sixty-six. The month Mercedonius was 
rejected and the days were apportioned out through the 
other months of the year, just as we have them at present 
in use over the whole globe, wherever civilized man dwells. 



Arago, Astrcmomie Populaire, iv., 665. 



20 

The intercalated clay was added to February, which has 
every fourth year twenty-nine instead of twenty-eight days; 
and instead of counting it as a separate day, Csesar adopted 
the plan of reckoning the 24th of the month twice, and as 
this day was called sexto-calendas, the repetition of it re- 
ceived the name bissexto-calendas, or simply dies bissextas, 
whence our own name, given to the year of three hundred 
and sixty-six days— bissextile. This Julian reformation took 
place forty-five years before the Christian Era. Owing to 
the imperfect manner that the bissextile day was employed, 
Augustus had the Calendar again corrected, thirty-six years 
after the date of the Julian reformation. 

The whole Julian reformation was based upon the idea 
that the revolution of the earth around the sun was accom- 
plished in three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours, 
whereas in fact it occupies but three hundred and sixty-five 
days, five hours, forty-eight minutes, forty-nine and seven 
tenth seconds. The Julian Calendar could be employ- 
ed for a number of years without any great inconve- 
nience, but as the mean length of its year differs from the 
astronomical year, a period must eventually arrive when 
there would be important differences between the two, and 
the seasons, according to the Calendar, would be very dif- 
ferent from those which were occurring in fact. The 
council of Nice, in 325, adopted a plan in order to deter- 
mine the festival of Easter, based upon the supposition that 
the vernal equinox would take place always on the 21st of 
March. But if the civil year is considered as being three 
hundred and sixty-five and one fourth days long, then, in 
consequence of the greater length of this period, the follow- 
ing error would arise, the equinox would fall a fraction of 
a day earlier than the Calendar would call for it. This 
difference, though small, would be increased with each 
year until it would at length be days instead of minutes. 
While the Calendar would lead us to expect it on the 21st 
of March, it would take place on the 20th, 19th, 18th, &c. 
As we shall find hereafter, Easter is regulated by the pe- 
riod of the Vernal Equinox, and these differences between 



21 

its real appearance and the time claimed for it in the Cal- 
endar, turned the attention of the Church to the necessity 
of a new reform of the latter. This reform was accomplish- 
ed under the authority and direction of Pope Gregory XIII. 
in the year 1582. In the 1257 years that had elapsed since 
the Council of Elce. the Julian year had gained ten days 
on the astronomical year, and in 1582 the Vernal Equinox 
fell on the 11th of March instead of the 21st. The Coun- 
cil of Trent had recommended that some means be adopted 
to rectify this error. The Pope ordered that the day after 
the 4th of October, instead of being called the 5th, should 
be called the 15th. This reform was not considered as 
complete, however, until there should be some law establish- 
ed for preventing the same difficulty hereafter, and to make 
such a law an edict was promulged that in every four 
hundred years there should be only ninety-seven bissextile 
years, instead of one hundred, which the Julian Calendar 
allowed. This would cut off three days from every four 
hundred years, giving a mean length to the year somewhat 
longer than the astronomical year, but so little differing 
that there would be a gain of one day only in four thousand 
years. 

The rule for bissextile years is that every year divisible 
by four is entitled to the extra day appended to February, 
but that those years which terminate as 1500, 1600, 1700, 
1800, &c., and which are really divisible by four, must be 
divisible first by one hundred and then by four, in order 
to be considered bissextile. In this way in the space of 
four hundred years, three years which wo aid be bissextile 
according to the Julian Calender, will remain common, 
that is, will contain but three hundred and sixty -five days, 
and thus, in every one hundred bissextile years, according 
to the Julian Calendar, there is retained but ninety-seven, 
according to the Gregorian. 

In the year 1700 the difference of elates between the two 
Calendars became equal to eleven clays, and in 1800 to 
twelve days. The dates, according to the Julian reckon- 
ing, are now known as "the old style," and those accord- 



22 

ing to the Gregorian as the new style. The Julian system 
is still employed in Russia, and consequently there is a dif- 
ference of twelve days between the dates of events as re- 
corded by the Russians and by other nations. 

There was great objection at first in Protestant countries 
to the adoption of the Gregorian changes in the Calendar. 
The great religious movements of the day which had re- 
sulted in a denial of papal supremacy by a portion of the 
"Western Church, and a rejection of the customs and usages 
that were peculiar to the Church of Rome, — these were but 
little calculated to admit any agreement on the part of 
either Roman Catholic or Protestant on subjects religious 
or scientific. The sturdy Protestant declared that he would 
rather not agree with the sun than agree with the court of 
Rome, and therefore hesitated a long time about adopting 
the Gregorian changes. The decree of the Pope establish- 
ed the Gregorian Calendar on October 5-15, 1582. It was 
adopted in France, December 10-20, 1582 ; in the Catholic 
kingdoms of Germany in 1584, and the Protestant in Feb- 
ruary 19-March 1, 1600 ; in Poland in 1586 ; and in Eng- 
land September 3-14, 1752. 

We haVe thus traced the history of our civil year, from 
its first establishment by Romulus, down to the changes 
which were instituted by Gregory XIII, under the advice 
of Lilio. It will be seen that centuries elapsed before 
science succeeded in defining not only the Calendar for any 
fixed year, but in obtaining the law of the variations of the 
Julian from the Astronomical year. It would be an error 
if we were to conclude that the civil year always commenc- 
ed with the first of January. Arago gives five different 
periods which were or are employed by different modern 
nations as the beginning of the business year. 

The birth day of Christ, December 25th, was celebrated 
as the beginning of the year in France during the reign of 
Charlemagne. In the same country, about the year 755, 
the first of March was selected as the commencement of 
the civil year ; and during the 12th and 13th centuries, 
Easter day, notwithstanding it is moveable between the 



23 

22nd of March and the 25th of April, was used by some of 
the French. Up to 1752 in England, the year began with 
the festival of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, which 
was celebrated March 25th. During the year 1751, Par- 
liament determined that 1752 should be considered as com- 
mencing with the first of January. In this way, 1751, 
really consisted of but nine months, and the ignorant pop- 
ulace are said to have vented their indignation upon the 
authors of the bill, pursuing Lord Chesterfield with the cry 
" give us back our three months." The first of January 
was letaken as the beginning of the year by the Germans 
in 1500. It is now adopted by nearly all nations excepting 
the Eussians, where the commencement of the year cor- 
responds with our thirteenth of January. 

A few words on the subject of Eras and we shall take 
up the second portion of our subj ect. It is necessary to have 
some fixed point in the history of the past from' which we 
can reckon the dates of events. In the years we have 
months, in these weeks, and in these again days, and thus 
we are enabled readily to fix the date of an event that may 
have happened during either of these periods. We want 
something of the kind when we have to fix the particular 
year of an event, and this is furnished by the Era. 

The two Eras adopted by Christian nations have been 
the date of the creation of the world, and that of the birth 
of our Saviour. All events are referred to these two great 
facts. They constitute the Era of the world, and the Chris- 
tian Era, — the first birth of matter with the creation of its 
master man, and the birth of the greatest man, of Him 
who united the natures of God and man, so that the sin 
and iniquity of the natural man might be sufliciently 
atoned for by His great sacrifice. The event which consti- 
tuted the second Era was not only the greater of the two, 
but was the period in the history of the world towards which 
its antecedent events were looking for the restoration of 
Humanity to its original relations with the Deity, and from 
which those incidents, that have occurred since, have flown 
with more or less benefit to the race as they have been con- 



24 

trolled -by a spirit recognizing the importance of the great 
event. 

The Era of the world was proposed early in the history 
of the Christian Church, probably as early as the days of 
the Apostles. Chronologists have differed as to the num- 
ber of years which intervened between the two Eras. 
Scaliger advanced the opinion, that this was 3950, Arch- 
bishop Usher that it was 4004, and Josephus 4163 years. 
The estimate of Usher is most generally adopted by Eng- 
lish writers, and has been recognized by Bossuet and Rollin. 
The Era is called Anno Mundi, and abbreviated by the use 
of the initials A. M. The years are estimated from the 
beginning in regular order up to the Christian Era, which 
necessarily constitutes the beginning of the four thousand 
and fifth year of the world. 

We find that the birth of Christ was not taken as the 
initial point of a new notation of years until the sixth cen- 
tury. The Christian Church had no Era different from 
those employed by the non-christian communities, and we 
may conclude, that the Era of the world was used, or the 
Olympic Era which dates 776 years B. C, or the Era of 
the foundation of Eome, known as Anno Urbis Cojiditae, 
which dated 753 years B. C, and was represented by the 
letters A. U. C. In the year 532 of our Era, a Roman 
monk, Dionysius Exiguus, proposed that the birth of the Sa- 
viour should be adopted as the point of time to which all 
events belonging to the Christian portion of History should 
be referred. His calculation placed this event on the 25th 
of December, in the 753rd year after the building of Rome, 
and accordingly the 754th year was called the first of the 
new Era, — taking, however, the first of January, seven 
days after the supposed Anniversary of the event, as the 
beginning of the year. Any event in this Era is said to 
have happened in the year of our Lord, and, designated by 
adding the letters A. D., (abbreviations of the words An- 
no Domini) to the number of years after the birth of Christ. 
In this way the nominal Christian world, whether recog- 
nizing fully the doctrines of the Christian religion, or pos- 



25 

sessing full belief in the idea of the divinity of Jesus Christ, 
are unconsciously, in their modes of reckoning time, bear- 
ing witness to His birth as the grandest incident found on 
the pages of the world's history. Men, whose undevoufc 
lips were never moved in prayer, or whose hardened hearts 
never beat in sympathy with a religious idea, thus inartic- 
ulately join in rendering homage, all involuntary though 
it be, to the central fact of the world's history, — the won- 
drous basis of the Christian's hope and the Christian's trust. 

We have thus ende' , ored to present the nature of those 
divisions of the Civi/ Jalendar, that are required by the ex- 
igencies of civil lif and also the principles, whether arbi- 
trary or astronomically necessary, which have regulated 
the construction of such divisions. The day and year have 
been shown as regulated by astronomical laws. When 
these laws were but indifferently understood, the lengths 
of those divisions of time were not accurately fixed. After 
science had cleared up the dark places in Astronomy, she 
taught man how the civil year, by which he regulated his 
business affairs, could be made to agree with the astronom- 
ical year that the sun and the earth determined. Then, and 
not before, was the year accurately fixed. Hence we can 
understand all the mistakes and errors which abounded in 
every determination of the year up to the time of the Gre- 
gorian reformation in 1582. 

Months being arbitrary divisions of the year depended 
entirely on the correctness of the determination of the lat- 
ter for their value. But, weeks were established by espec- 
ial command of the Almighty, and depended alone upon 
the preservatien of the seventh day, however accurately or 
inaccurately its length might be determined by man, free 
from all labor or work. 

The civil year is devoted to the worldly business of man. 
Saving alone fifty-two days — the Sundays-— all the year is 
devoted to the search of such things as will contribute to 
his wants, comforts or luxuries. The requirements of the 
body are food and raiment, and these constitute all that are 
supplied by the labors of most men. The want of the mind 



26 

is knowledge, not only that it shall be able to aid the body 
in gaining victories over material objects, but that it can 
investigate the nature of substances immaterial and eter- 
nal. This want as imperatively clamors for man's atten- 
tion during the civil year as the necessities of the body 
which perishes, and he who neglects its call, lowers himself 
to the condition of a mere animal. But yet a higher 
want is experienced by his soul, which can only be satisfied 
by food that Omnipotence has placed within its reach, and 
this want is the highest of all, so that whatever may be the 
occupations of the civil year, it must not be neglected. The 
business of man consists, therefore, in providing for the 
spiritual, mental and bodily wants of himself and those 
constituting his family. One day, out of the seven consti- 
tuting the week, was reserved by God in commemoration of 
His sovereignty, and is specially to be devoted to the first 
of these three classes of wants, although it must also occu- 
py a portion of time during the other six days. This day 
was originally fixed on the seventh day of the week, but, 
" it was changed, by the Lord of the Sabbath, from the 
seventh to the first day of the week, that it might be, till the 
end of time, a memorial of his resurrection from the dead; 
while, being still unaltered in its essential nature, it should 
continue to answer, also, as before, all the purpose of its 
original institution."* 

From the earliest times the ancient Christians celebrated 
certain days of the year in commemoration of great events 
in the life of Christ. Whether these days were the proper 
anniversaries of such events or no, the idea involved in the 
celebration was still the same — that the creature should 
hold in continual remembrance the life of his Saviour. 
Afterwards, other days were added in commemoration of 
the births or martyrdoms of the Apostles, Evangelists, 
Confessors and Saints. These were multiplied until each 
day in the year was considered as consecrated to the recol- 
lection of some religious fact or personage. The propriety 

* Nevin's Biblical Antiquities, II, 163. \ 



27 

of such commemorations does not come within the province 
of this Article. It is taken for granted ; the reasons for it 
being based upon the conclusions which the Church Cath- 
olic has adopted. The number of the days which should 
be celebrated differs in the various branches of the Chris- 
tian Church. Their enumeration constitutes the Ecclesias- 
tical Calendar, and this is different in extent with each 
separate Church, The Roman Catholic Church has given 
the name of a Saint or Martyr to each day in the year, and 
has even assigned one to the intercalary day — the 29th of 
February. Protestant Churches have abridged this num- 
ber and have adopted many or few of them in accordance 
with their own special theory on the subject. To consider 
the reasons for or against the retention of any of these clays 
is, also, foreign from our present design. The Ecclesiasti- 
cal Calendar, as recognized by the present Liturgy of the 
American branch of the German Reformed Church, and 
by the ancient usages of the mother Church in German}' 
and Switzerland, will now claim our attention, as some- 
thing admitted to be right, and we will endeavor to show 
the laws which determine the various periods in this Cal- 
endar. Such a Calendar even existed with the Romans, 
who distinguished among the days of the year, such as were 
dies juridici, and diesferiati, that is judicial and non-judicial 
days. ~No man could be compelled to appear before the 
praetor on the dies feriati, and no business was transacted, 
unless of a certain character, which was specially named by 
Law. These days numbered, in the time of Marcus Anto- 
ninus, 150.* 

Some religious observances, as Christmas and Epiphany, 
always occur on the same day of the month. There are 
others which occur on different days, and hence are known 
as moveable holydays. It will be proper, to begin with those 
that are fixed, and we select first of all Christmas day, or 
the Anniversary of the Nativity of Christ. " This has ever 
been kept with great solemnity, festivity and rejoicing. "f 



* Neal's Fasts and Feasts, 5 and 6. 
f Calendar of Anglican Church, 152. 



28 

It was celebrated for about three hundred years by the 
Eastern Church on the 6th of January, though the 25th of 
December has been mostly devoted to its celebration. In 
the words of Saint Chrysostom,* it " is the most venerable, 
most astonishing of festivals, the fountain whence the oth- 
er great festivals flowed, for had Christ not been born he 
would not have been baptized, which is the Epiphany ; he 
would not have been crucified, which is the Passover; he 
would not have sent down the Spirit, which is Pentecost, 
But not only on that account, is this festival worthy of pre- 
eminence, but because what happened upon it is more as- 
tonishing than what happened on the others : for that 
Christ should die was a natural consequence of his having 
been born a man ; for though he did no sin, yet he had as- 
sumed a mortal body ; but that being God, he should be 
willing to become man and endure to humble himself to a 
degree which thought cannot follow, is most awful, most 
full of amazement. 

Connected with the celebration of Christmas day, and 
immediately following it are three festival days recognized 
by the Church, as commemorating the martyrdom of 
St. Stephen, the beloved disciple St. John — the bosom 
friend of Christ, and the slaughter of the Jewish children 
by Herod's command ; these festivals always fall upon the 
twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-eighth days of 
December. They are celebrated immediately after Christ- 
mas, since each commemorated a certain form of martyr- 
dom, and thus the idea was symbolized, to employ the 
words of the rubric for St. Stephen's day, "that the ter- 
restrial birth of our Saviour is immediately followed by the 
death, that is the celestial birth of His martyrs." The 
reason for the order in which these days are placed is 
given by Wheatly, " That as there are three kinds of mar- 
tyrdom, the first both in will and deed, which is the high- 
est ; the second in will but not in deed ; the third in deed 
but not in will ; so the Church commemorates those mar- 
tyrs in the same order : St. Stephen first, who suffered both 



* Neal's Fasts and Feasts, 10. 



29 

in will and deed ; St. John the Evangelist next, who suf- 
fered martyrdom in will but not in deed ; the holy Inno- 
cents last, who suffered in deed but not in will." 

The festival of the circumcision of Christ, is celebrated 
on the first day of the year, and hence is known as New 
Year's day. Its celebration does not date further back 
than the end of the eleventh century. Since this day was 
taken as the beginning of the year, at the time of the es- 
tablishment of the Christian era by Dionysius Exiguus, it 
has become a day of great importance both in the Civil 
and Ecclesiastical Calendar. Some kind of celebration al- 
ways takes place, either religious or social, and men of bu- 
siness use it as a convenient initial point for their calcula- 
tions through the year. 

The festival of the Epiphany, or the manifestation of 
Christ, is celebrated on the sixth of January. It is intend- 
ed to commemorate three several manifestations of our 
Lord : 1st, the appearance of the Star in the East, which 
guided the wise men to the place '• where the young child 
was," and thus enabled them " to worship Him " — this pe- 
culiar Epiphany is mentioned in the gospel for the day ; 
2nd, the manifestation of the Trinity as shown at His bap- 
tism in the Jordan, by John the Baptist ; 3rd, that of His 
Divinity or Power as shown in the miracle of the water 
turned into wine at the marriage supper in Cana of Gal- 
ilee, 

These constitute all the fixed festivals that are provided 
for by the Liturgy, and our attention must now be directed 
to the more difficult subject of the moveable holyclays. It 
will be proper in considering these to begin with the Ec- 
clesiastical year, which does not commence with the first 
day of the Civil year, but some weeks before it. The com- 
mencement of the Ecclesiastical year is regulated by St. 
Andrew's day — November 30th, — and takes place on the 
nearest Sunday, before or after it, which is called the First 
Sunday in Advent. The whole season of Advent, which 
fills up the space between this Sunday and Christmas, is 
devoted to the commemoration of the coming of our Sa- 



30 

vionr. It has been suggested that St. Andrew's day was 
selected by the Church to regulate the first Sunday in the 
year, because he was " the first that found the Messiah, 
and first brought others to Him," and hence it was right 
that he should be commemorated at the beginning of the 
Advent season. But since the first Sunday in Advent may 
come before the 30th of November, this idea would not 
always be represented in the arrangement of the Church 
year. We employ St. Andrew's day to determine the be- 
ginning of Advent, although there are no special lessons 
and collects assigned it in the Liturgy. 

There are four Sundays in Advent, each having a special 
gospel, epistle and collect assigned it. After Christmas, to 
Epiphany, there may be one or two Sundays. The Re- 
formed Liturgy, and the Book of Common Prayer, have a 
gospel, epistle and collect but for one of the Sundays — the 
latter ordering these to be used "for every day after unto 
Epiphany" 

The remainder of the moveable feasts in the Church 
year, as well as the celebration of Ash Wednesday and 
Good Friday, depend upon the date of Easter, or the Festi- 
val of the Resurrection of the Saviour from the tomb. The 
derivation of the word Easter from a Saxon word, Oster, 
which means to rise, shows that the character of the day is 
manifest in its etymology. Easter day was celebrated at 
the Paschal full moon, in consequence of the relation of 
the Resurrection to the Passover. Lardner tells us,* that 
" many of the early Christians held Easter to be the Jewish 
Passover continued as a Christian rite, and celebrated i1 
on the day of the Passover, instead of the Sunday after. 
The Mcene Council put a stop to this notion and practice; 
and means were taken at the Reformation of the Calendar 
to prevent the Christian festival from falling actually upon 
the same day as that of the Jewish Passover." 

In forming the law for the fixing of Easter, two things 
had to be kept especially in view; first, the fact of the oc- 



* Lardner on The' Almanac, 



31 

currence of the Kesurrection about the Vernal Equinox, and 
second, that it was after a full moon. With these facts the 
idea was quickly obtained that the festival should be cele- 
brated on the Sunday which next succeeded the first full 
moon after the 21st of March, and in case "the full moon 
happens upon a Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday after." 
From this law we shall see that the earliest day on which 
Easter could fall would be the 22nd of March, and that this 
would only occur token the full moon appeared on the 21st 
of the month, the day of appearance being Saturday. The 
latest period for the festival is the 25th of April, which oc- 
curs when the full moon happens on the 20th of March. 
This moon is not then considered the Paschal moon, as it 
is before the Vernal Equinox, and the true Paschal full 
moon will really occur on the 18th of April. Should this 
day be Sunday, according to the general law, Easter will 
be the next Sunday, which would be the 25th. Easter day 
has fallen on the 22nd of March, in 1598, 1693, 1761, 1818, 
and will occur on that day in 2285. It has been celebrated 
on the 25th of April in 1666, 1734, and will be on that day 
in the years 1886, 1943, 2038 and 2190. Between these 
two periods, — a space of thirty-five days — Easter may hap- 
pen in accordance with the conditions first named, and as 
it controls most of the moveable festivals, their position in 
the Church Calendar may vary within the same limits, i. e. 
thirty-five days. 

It would be erroneous to conclude from what has been 
stated as the law for determining Easter, that the Astro- 
nomical moon has any thing to do with it at the present 
day. Many changes have taken place in the science of 
Astronomy, since Easter day was fixed by the Church. 
Ideas about the movements of the Sun and Moon, then 
prevalent, have been rejected. This rejection would ne- 
cessarily affect, more or less, the determination of Easter, 
but in order to preserve the old law, an ecclesiastical, or 
conventional moon has been created, by the age of which 
Easter is regulated. Easter is in fact determined by finding 
the first Sunday that succeeds the 14th day of the first eccle- 



32 

siastical moon which occurs after the 21st of March, and if 
this 14th day occurs on Sunday, the Easter festival is cele- 
brated on the next Sunday. In order to show that there 
is a difference between the Sundays which would be select- 
ed as Easter by the astronomical and the ecclesiastical 
moon, two cases from Arago may be cited. In 1798, Eas- 
ter according to the astronomical moon should have been 
on April 1st, but, in fact being regulated by the hypothetic 
moon, it occurred on the 8th. In 1818, the day was deter- 
mined astronomically as the 29th of March, but was cele- 
brated in accordance with the ecclesiastical moon's indica- 
tion on the 22nd. The reason why the determination is 
not made by the actual moon, consists simply in the fact 
that its position is obtained from astronomical tables, which 
are yearly being altered, as the science becomes more per- 
fect. These tables are not constructed for many years in 
advance, and the Church would thus be dependent for the 
fixing of Easter on the appearance of the Civil Calendar. 
Whereas, according to the present system, tables are fur- 
nished us of the days, on which Easter will fall, for centu- 
ries to come. 

The ecclesiastical moon is regulated by data known as 
" epacts " and " golden numbers." It is free from the 
contingent effects of modern astronomical discoveries. We 
shall endeavor to explain its peculiarities, drawing from 
Arago, Lardner and such other sources as are within our 
reach. 

Meton remarked that nineteen years contain about two 
hundred and thirty-five lunar months, and that after the 
termination of this period, the same phases of the moon re- 
curred on the same clays of the month. Hence every nine- 
teen years, festivals that were regulated by the phases of 
the moon, could be celebrated on the same days of the 
month. Such a period of time received the name of the 
Metonic Cycle. The Greeks were so delighted with this 
discovery, which would require them only to determine the 
dates of their feasts for nineteen years, as they would then 
have these for every subsequent period, that they had the 



33 

numbers inscribed on their monuments in letters of gold. 
Since that time, the numbers composing the cycle of Meton 
have been called golden numbers. 

When we compare the actual length of nineteen astro- 
nomical years with two hundred and thirty-five average 
lunar months, a difference appears of two hours, four min- 
utes, thirty-three seconds. If the nineteen years exactly 
contained two hundred and thirty-five lunar months, " the 
whole course of time would be resolved into a succession 
of periods, or cycles" and the same phases of the moon 
which were noticed in any year of one cycle, would occur 
in the corresponding year of another cycle at the same mo- 
ment of time exactly. But as nineteen astronomical years 
fall short by two hours, four minutes, thirty-three seconds 
of the length of two hundred and thirty-five average lunar 
months, — the same phases of the moon would occur on the 
same day every nineteen years, but exactly two hours, four 
minutes, thirty-three seconds later. 

But here another difficulty arises, the astronomical year 
is always three hundred and sixty-five days and nearly six 
hours in length, while the civil year is of unequal length. 
Every fourth year it contains three hundred and sixty-six 
days, and in the next three, only three hundred and sixty- 
five. This would also prevent a cycle of civil years always 
being of the same length, as it may sometimes contain ^wq 
and sometimes only four leap years, making a differ- 
ence of one day in length. "If four successive cycles of 
nineteen civil years be taken, three of them will exceed 
one astronomical year by something less than a quarter of 
a day, and the fourth will fall short of an astronomical 
year by something more than three-quarters of a day. The 
total length of the four successive cycles of nineteen civil 
years will be as nearly as possible equal to four cycles of 
nineteen astronomical years."* From these facts we learn 
that " the cycle of nineteen civil years oscillates at each 
side of the cycle of nineteen astronomical years." The 



* Lardner on The Almanac, 13. 



34 

Ecclesiastical or true Paschal moon is supposed to move in 
the path of the true moon, but its periodical phases take 
place in accordance with the civil year, just as the phases 
of the true moon occur in accordance with the astronomi- 
cal year. This fictitious moon will sometimes have its 
phases sooner or later than the real moon, though the ex- 
tent of the differences will never be greater than that of the 
difference in length between the average and the real lunar 
month. 

All time is divided into Metonic cycles of nineteen years, 
the first of which is supposed to commence with a day 
which is the last of the moon's age. The golden number for 
any year indicates its position in such a cycle, as for 
instance, if we say that this number for 1858 is 16, we 
mean it is the sixteenth year in the cycle which must have 
commenced with 1843. " The age of the ecclesiastical 
moon on the first day of the first year of the cycle being 
known, its age upon the first day of each succeeding year 
of the cycle may be determined. The number which ex- 
presses the age of the moon on the first day of any year of 
the cycle-is called the JEjpact of that year." Now by calcu- 
lation the following Epacts have been obtained as corres- 
ponding with the different golden numbers. 



Golden Numbers. 


1 



2 
11 


3 
22 


4 
3 


5 
14 


6 

25 


7 
6 


8 
17 


9 
28 


10 
9 


11 

20 


12 
1 


13 
12 


14 

23 


15 

4 


16 

15 


17118 

26 1 7 


19 
18 


Epacts. 



Having thus obtained the age of the moon at the com- 
mencement of any year, we can easily calculate what full 
moon, or rather what fourteenth clay of the lunar month 
occurs first after the 21st of March, and then from this the 
Easter day is readily obtained. Applying the rule to the 
present year the Epact for which is 15, we find the first 
ecclesiastical lunar period expired on the 15th of January; 
the second on the 13th of February, the third on the 14th 
of March, and the fourteenth day of the next moon falls on 
March 28th, which happens to be on Sunday, and hence 
the next Sunday, or April 4th, is Easter day. 
Easter being determined in this way, there is no difficul- 



35 

ty in fixing the remainder of the moveable festivals. Lent 
consists of forty days before Easter, independent of Sim- 
days. It begins with Ash Wednesday, which is exactly 
forty- six days before Easter. The name appropriated to 
this day was obtained from the ancient custom of placing 
ashes on the heads of the people after they had made con- 
fession of their sins. The clay was preserved as a solemn 
fast. The period of Lent was instituted, as suggested by 
some, with a view to commemorate the fast of forty clays and 
forty nights which Christ endured in the wilderness when 
he was tempted of the devil, or, as is more likely, in order 
to bring more especially before the minds of Christians the 
sufferings and death of the Saviour. The period was not 
begun as early as Ash Wednesday, until about A. D. 600. 
Before that time, it seems to have been of shorter duration. 

The three Sundays before Ash Wednesday are counted 
backwards as the First, Second or Third Sunday before 
Lent, and are also known as Quinquagesima, Sexagesima 
or Septuagesima. The Sundays intervening, from Epi- 
phany to Septuagesima, are numbered by their distance 
from the former festival, and they may vary from one to 
six. 

During the Lenten period the Sundays, six in number, 
are reckoned from the first to the sixth in their order from 
Ash Wednesday. The sixth Sunday, however, is called 
Palm Sunday, as it commemorates Christ's triumphal en- 
trance into Jerusalem when " a very great multitude spread 
their garments in the way ; and others cut clown branches 
from the trees and strewed them in the way." In the So- 
man Catholic Church, sprigs of evergreen are worn by the 
members on this clay. 

Palm Sunday, or the Sunday before Easter, is the begin- 
ning of the last week in Lent, which is known as Holy 
Week. This season was selected by the Christian Roman 
Emperors as the period for pardoning prisoners, " to imi- 
tate," according to St. Chrysostom, " as far as might be, 
the divine goodness which, at this time, freed mankind 
from the dominion of sin." It was considered as a week 



36 

of especial solemnity. The rubric in the Liturgy requires 
" that there should be Divine service every day, and that the 
entire gospel history of Christ's Passion and death should 
be read." The words of Chrysostom will give us an idea of 
the importance attached by the early Church to this period; 
— " in this week, the long war was brought to a close, 
death was quenched, the curse removed, the tyrannous em- 
pire of the devil overthrown, his goods plundered, God and 
man reconciled ; heaven becomes accessible, men and an- 
gels were joined together ; what had been dissevered was 
united ; the partition wall broken down, the barrier taken 
away ; the God of Peace made peace between the things 
above and the things on earth." 

On the Friday in this week, known as Good Friday, the 
anniversary of the Crucifixion is celebrated, and the Church 
directs the minds of its members to the nature and magni- 
tude of the Sacrifice which was then offered up for the 
benefit of mankind. This was the great fast day of the 
year with the early Church, and special canons of its va- 
rious Councils were directed against any indulgence in 
feasting on Good Friday, "prohibiting such persons from 
participating on Easter in the sacrament."* 

Saturday of this week is celebrated as the anniversary of 
the day in which Christ occupied the tomb, and is known 
as Easter Eve. The early Church continued the fast of 
Good Friday, " for all who were able to bear it, over the 
succeeding Saturday, while Christ continued in the tomb, 
till cock-crow on Easter morning : and during the whole of 
that night the people continued assembled in the churches, 
in the expectation, — an expectation apparently derived 
from the Jews, — that on that night the Messiah would ap- 
pear to receive his kingdom." 

Monday in Easter is celebrated by the German Reformed 
Church. The Gospel for the day describes the meeting of 
the risen Saviour, with two of the disciples, on the road to 
Emmaus. 



* Fasts and Feasts, 321. 



37 

The Sundays after Easter are five in number, and reck- 
oned by their distance from the great Festival. The first 
one of these was formerly called Dominica in Albis, on ac- 
count of the fact that persons, who had been baptized on 
Easter-eve, which was the great baptismal day of the year, 
continued to wear their white robes during Easter week 
and on this Sunday. The fifth Sunday after Easter was 
formerly called Rogation Sunday. It and the two follow- 
ing days were known as Rogation days, as early as A. D. 
474, when they were ordered as fasts, and were especially 
devoted to the consideration of the mode of asking God so 
that we may obtain our requests. This feature is preserved 
in the Gospel for the day, and the collect has especial re- 
ference to our doing good in the future under divine guid- 
ance. 

The Thursday following the fifth Sunday after Easter, 
that is Eogation Sunday, is called Ascension day. This is 
always forty days after Easter, and it is celebrated at this 
distance from the great festival, in commemoration of the 
days, which Christ passed on earth after His resurrection, 
which were forty in number. 

The Sunday immediately following Ascension day is 
simply known as the Sunday after Ascension day. It is fol- 
lowed by Whit Sunday, called also the Feast of Pentecost, 
from the fact that it is exactly fifty days from Easter. This 
day is celebrated in commemoration of the descent of the 
Holy Spirit on the Apostles, after the Resurrection of the 
Saviour. The next day, or Whit Monday, is retained as a 
Holyday by the Reformed Church, to commemorate the 
gift of the Spirit to the Gentiles, under the preaching of 
St. Peter. 

Sunday immediately following Whit Sunday is known 
as Trinity Sunday. The mystery of the Trinity is espe- 
cially held in remembrance on this day. The Ambrosian 
hymn is required in the service, because it offers up espe- 
cial thanks to the three personages of the Trinity, and has 
always been recognized as the highest form of adoration 
which an uninspired writer has composed. The festival 



38 

prayers for the day dwell particularly upon the attributes 
peculiar to the different personages of the Godhead. In 
the English Church the Athanasian Creed is appointed to 
be said on this day. 

The Sundays following Trinity, which vary in number 
from twenty-two to twenty-seven, are named as after Trinity, 
and they fill up the remainder of the Ecclesiastical year. 

It will be observed that Easter regulates nearly the 
whole of the Church-year, determining when each of the 
moveable feasts shall be held. In order to recapitulate 
what we have said, we extract, as a sort of resume of the 
whole subject, the following by Prof. De Morgan :* "In 
the English nomenclature Easter Sunday has always the 
six Sundays in Lent immediately preceding, and the five 
Sundays after Easter immediately following. Of these, the 
nearest to Easter before and after, are Palm Sunday and 
Low Sunday (Dominica in albis) ; the farthest before and 
after, are Quadragesima (first in Lent), and Rogation Sun- 
day (fifth after Easter). Preceding all these are, in reverse 
order, Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, Septiiagesima ; and fol- 
lowing them in direct order, are the Sunday after Ascension, 
Whit Sunday and Trinity Sunday. So that Easter Sunday, 
as it takes its course through the Almanac, draws after 
it, as it were, nine Sundays, and pushes eight before it, all 
at fixed denominations. Looking farther back, every 
Sunday preceding Septuagesima, but not preceding the 
fixed day of Epiphany (Jan. 6th), is named as of Epiphany 
or after Epiphany : the least number of these being one, 
the greatest number six" 

In addition to the days which are mentioned in this arti- 
cle, as the festival clays suggested in the new Liturgy of the 
Keformed Church in America, other days are celebrated 
by the mother Church, in her German home, in commem- 
oration of the Apostles or some incidents of special impor- 
tance in the history of the Church. With the view of 
showing that such days were once recognized in this coun- 



* Lardner on the Almanac, 19. 



try by the Eeformed Church, we may mention that, in an 
old Hymn book, the fourth edition of which was published 
by Ernst Ludwig Baisch in Philadelphia, (1774), purport- 
ing to be prepared for the use of the Eeformed Church in 
Hesse. Hanau, the Palatinate and Pennsylvania, we find 
associated with the Heidelberg Catechism, and with forms 
of prayer for morning and evening private worship, a full se- 
ries of gospel and epistles with collects for all the Sundays 
in the year, the other festivals recognized in the present Lit- 
urgy, and for other occasions. The latter are for the " Sun- 
day after New Year" Tuesday after Easter, Tuesday 
after Whit Sunday, the day named St. Andrew's, St. 
Thomas, the conversion of St. Paul, the purification of the 
Virgin, St. Matthew, the Annunciation, St. Philip and St. 
James the less, St. John the Baptist, St. Peter and St. 
Paul, the Visitation of the Virgin to Elizabeth, St. James 
the Great, St. Bartholomew, St. Mathias, St. Michael the 
Archangel, St. Simon and St. Jude. This will show that 
the Liturgical movement involving as it does, to a certain 
extent, the celebration of these clays of the old Church 
year, is not a novelty introduced by restless men into the 
service of religion, but is the result of an ardent yearning 
after the customs of our fathers, a warm desire for a form 
of worship which unites people and clergy in their church 
services. And we need not seek after this latter out of the 
limits of our mother Church, whose past history is filled 
with endearing recollections of our fathers. Their blood, 
in many cases, was shed in the establishment of its doctrines 
and principles when persecution opposed them with all its 
vilest terrors. Let not their sons be drawn irrevocably 
from the old land marks, and carried away out into the sea 
of non-liturgical agitation, where their poor barks will, like 
many others in the same position now, be tossed about by 
every wind of doctrine, having no sure reliance upon com- 
pass or star or any other guidance in the midst of the 
storm. The necessities of the devout soul, the idea of 
worship itself, respect for the early fathers of the Church, 
the duty of handing down doctrines pure and undeiiled, — 



40 

all these constitute an argument all powerful in favor of 
Liturgical worship with the son of the German Reformed 
Church, and by implication also they invoke his attention 
to the Church year. To this latter, as the nobler Cal- 
endar of the two we have considered, the purest thoughts 
and tenderest feelings of the soul cling as, next to God's 
own Sabbath, requiring the attention and reverence of the 
devout. In this view, the Ecclesiastical Calendar is a great 
boon from the Church to her members. 

" As prisoners notch their tally-stick, 

And wait the far-off day, 
So marks She days, and months and years, 

To ponder and to pray ; 
And year by year beginning new 

Her faithful task sublime, 
How lovingly she meteth out, 

Each portion in its time." 



\ 






ADDENDA. 

RULE FOR DETERMINING EASTER SUNDAY. 

(Ddambre's Astronomie, [1814] III, 712.) 

1. Divide the number of the year by 19, & call the remainder a. 

2. " " . " by 4, " " b. 

3. " " " by 7, " " c. 

4. « (19a -|-M) by«t Wj " " o\ 

5. " (26 -|- 4c -|- 6d -|- 1S T ) by 7, " " e. 

6. Make JC=15, and !N=6 for the Julian Calendar. 

In the Gregorian Calendar, M and N will have the following 
values : 

M A T 

From 1582 to 1699 22 3 

1700 to 1799 23 3 

1800 to 1899 23 4 

1900 to 1999 24 5 

2000 to 2099 24 5 

2100 to 2199 24 6 

2200 to 2299 25 

2300 to 2399 26 1 

2400 to 2499 25 1 

7. Easter day will either be 

(22-1-0" -\-e) of March, or 
(d-\-e— 9) of April. 
This rule is absolute for the Julian Calendar. In calcula- 
tions for the Gregorian Calendar, if a number is given over 
24th of April, seven days must be substracted. 
Applying these rules to the present year, 1858, 

o=15 
6=2 

d=;$ 

Hence Easter day is (o*-|-e— 9)=(8-|-5— 9)=4th of April. 



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